Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/644193
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 24 FEBRUARY 2016 News Bedingfield eyes second district candidature for next election MAT THEW VELLA GLEN N Bedingfield, the for- mer One News journalist and Labour MEP now working as an aide to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, is expected to run in the next general elections. A source close to Bedingfield confirmed his intentions when asked by MaltaToday. The political move, welcomed at the Office of the Prime Min- ister, where Bedingfield coordi- nates answers to parliamentary questions and accompanies the PM on his outside appoint- ments, also coincides with his recent founding of an online blog hitting out at critics of the Labour administration – a move not in line with the ad- ministration's slick communi- cations strategy. "I have been active within La- bour since I was 16 and will do whatever is necessary for the party," Bedingfield told Malta- Today. "I will contest the elec- tion if Labour asks me to." He was coy when asked wheth- er he wants Labour to send that request his way, repeating that he will do "whatever is neces- sary for the party". The Times has reported that Bedingfield was interested in the second district, where transport minister Joe Mizzi runs. Bedingfield spent a few months in the European Par- liament by taking up Muscat's seat when the Labour leader vacated it to take up his seat in the Maltese parliament. Bed- ingfield 's attempt at re-election in 2009 failed. The gaffe-prone Beding- field last year was forced to apologise for a retweet in which it was suggested that Hitler's 'Mein Kampf ' was more moderate than the Quran; and more recent- ly, he hit out at Archbishop Charles Scicluna's take on the PM's New Year message with a link to clerical paedophilia. Last week, Muscat defended Bedingfield 's recently launched poison-pen blog, a response to an onslaught of similar ad hominem missives by Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Malta Independent columnist who turns any Labour voter into a subject of derision. Muscat told MaltaToday that Bedingfield doesn't attack any- body personally in his blog, and that the principle of freedom of expression meant he should be allowed to keep on blogging, regardless of his person-of- trust-role within the Office of the Prime Minister. "Are you saying that politi- cal appointees should not have a right to express their opin- ions?" Muscat asked, dismiss- ing concerns that he endorsed Bedingfield 's views. "Are Bed- ingfield and myself one and the same person? For good- ness' sake, we share different views, and whether I agree with what he writes in his blog or not is not an issue." While Bed- ingfield 's right to express himself is uncontested, Mus- cat's aide regularly blogs dur- ing working hours. "This is all about free- dom of expression, which states that everybody must shoulder respon- sibility for what they say and what they do," Muscat said, while insisting that Beding- field 's working hours are "f lexible". Glenn Bedingfield will answer the party's call New US ambassador Glenna Hill meets foreign minister MATTHEW VELLA FOREIGN minister George Vella received the ambassador des- ignate of the United States of America who presented her Cop- ie d'Usage. Glenna Kathleen Hill will be presenting her credentials to the President of the Republic of Malta tomorrow. Vella underlined the need to further strengthen economic and commercial relations between the two countries. Vella and Hill also had an exchange of views on the current political situation in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, particularly with regard to the situation in Libya and Syria. Vella thanked the Ambassa- dor designate for the excellent relations between Malta and the United States of America, mentioning particularly the co- operation and help extended in connection with the migrants relocation programme, and au- gured that relations between the two countries would be taken to a higher level. New US ambassador Glenna Hill will present her credentials to the President on Thursday